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Maybe some of you can do a simulation in LTSpice following the suggestion of dewster of replacing R1 with a 4.7k ohm resistor. If show improvement I will do a real-live test.

Daniel, I tried it with a 4.7k, and it cut the 20 ms to 17ms or so, but that's with the 1.0uF still in the circuit. Removing that cuts the lag to microseconds, which is what is confusing about your results with the cap removed.

"An internal problem was discovered in a small number of early production units of the ES100 which caused the pedal to operate in the manner that you describe. This problem was quickly corrected and new ES100s now respond correctly to the pedal. The problem was never in the pedal, but rather in the keyboard, so a different pedal will produce the same results on your unit."

I first though the problem was the pedal. They say is the digital piano itself.

If you choice ES100, make sure you get one from the new ones where they say they correct this.

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

In a store is kinda hard to test. Delay is 0.1 seconds for pressing pedal; 0.07 seconds when releasing pedal. Is not very obvious delay for "inexperienced ears".

If you have a good ear, you could try press a key, release the key at the same time you press pedal very fast. The sound should sustain without any damping. If have the delay, the note will damp a little.

Edited by Daniel Richter (01/11/1402:40 PM)

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

They say only a warranty replacement is the solution. Sad part is that I live in Venezuela and shipment would cost around 500 US$. I could buy a new Casio PX-150 with that.

Not sure what I am going to do

The only positive thing i can say is that the sound on ES100 is excellent, keys feel very good, keys don't make much noise, and Kawai was good on customer support. On their side there is no problem to replace the product.

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

And what ES100's are safe to buy? Is there a serial number below which people should avoid like the plague?

Seems to me this is the critical issue now. For example, I'm seriously interested in purchasing an ES100. But no way do I do this unless I know the one I'm buying is NOT one of the "small number of early production units of the ES100 which caused the pedal to operate in the manner that you describe". And it also seems to me that if they've just discovered this, the likelihood of me getting one of the "small number" is fairly high, since my dealer has had his ES100's in stock for a while.

Bottom line: Be forthcoming, Kawai. What are the affected serial numbers?

I will ask them if there is a way to know if a unit is the fix one or the old one with the problem.

Also I will try to push to give me a measurement of latency. For now they say "is fix on new units", but I want proves and data about what "fix" means. In other words: how much latency Kawai consider "normal" or acceptable? I already ask but they didn't give me any data.

I am still thinking what are i am going to do, but like dewster say, right now i feel to change brand.

I maybe could afford get the ES100 in the US, but not sure if i can afford also the shipping cost back to kawai. I will ask them if i can get a refund that way, they paying shipping.

If that works, now I will be in the old-dilemma of "what DP to buy?". Sad because I was happy with ES100. Other models don't really look that great, at that price. Casio with noisy keys, yamaha with too light keys, roland with keys that feel very unrealistic, and Korg... I don't really know anything about korg models. I can't find people with korg models at that price. My budge was 600$ but I push to 800$ for the ES100, so don't recommend the Yamaha P-155.

I hear might be a new model Yamaha P-255. I suppose an updated version of the P-155. If price is lower, might be a winner. Not sure when will be release, though.

Thanks for the support guys. I will post any news when I figure out what I am going to do.

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

Daniel, it is my understanding that Kawai America have offered to collect your ES100 and pay for it to be sent back to the US (from where it was purchased). This gesture goes beyond the obligations of the warranty, and in my opinion is quite a generous offer.

Yes, is a great offer. I never complaint on kawai support. From beginning I always say Kawai was very good on that aspect.

Problem remains that I have to pay to send it back here and is like 500$. Or I can pay send to US and kawai pay send to venezuela. Ether way I would have to pay the 500$. I am not asking kawai pay that too, but still is a problem for me.

Not sure yet what I am going to do. Maybe I can travel to US with the DP and Kawai can collect the ES100 from US. A lot cheaper for them and me. That will still be problematic, but is my plan A, for now.

I send email to them a few days ago. Would have to wait for reply.

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

Can you make the case to Kawai (use your influence!) that they need to tell the public what serial numbers are affected re the pedal issue?

Until I can be assured that the ES100 I buy will not have the problem, I don't see how I can make the purchase. If Kawai's answer is "You're covered under warranty if there's a problem", that's not satisfactory considering this is a KNOWN issue that Kawai says affected a "small number" of units and has been corrected in current production. If that's so, tell the consumer the relevant serial number info so he can be confident in the ES100 he's buying.

Now when using switch pedal, sometimes i press and is not sustain. I though was the pedal, but actually is the ES100. This happens when press and release and press again quickly.

I'm amazed at how lame this ES100 is, and how poorly Kawai is handling this whole situation. Known bad products should be repaired / replaced at no expense to their unfortunate owners, regardless of where they live or where they bought it.

Now when using switch pedal, sometimes i press and is not sustain. I though was the pedal, but actually is the ES100. This happens when press and release and press again quickly.

I'm amazed at how lame this ES100 is, and how poorly Kawai is handling this whole situation. Known bad products should be repaired / replaced at no expense to their unfortunate owners, regardless of where they live or where they bought it.

Am I missing something or wat makes it lame apart from a SINGLE fault in older models?? Seems a bit of an over-reaction.

True. Also: I'm reading here lots technobabble about a few msecs of pedal latency, which would seem to be below the threshold of perception. I'm not sure the problem is even significant. Is it really a problem?

True. Also: I'm reading here lots technobabble about a few msecs of pedal latency, which would seem to be below the threshold of perception. I'm not sure the problem is even significant. Is it really a problem?

Is very notable, sorry to say. In real life make a lot of difference. That is why i start investigating and testing.

I know what I am doing. I play piano for many years and I am telling the truth. Is way pass the line of perception.

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Long time piano player, with 7 years experience working in restaurants and doing gigs in random places.

If there are known to be faulty units out there, what kind of company doesn't issue a recall, but waits to see if people notice and fixes it under warranty?

Try... most car companies, for a start. As an example, the VAG group have an issue with 2.0 TFSI engines in that the timing chain tensioner MAY stop doing it's job which leads to the chain jumping and usually needing a replacement engine! They know about it, but it happens quite infrequently so there's no recall as it's in such small numbers. It gets dealt with on an individual basis cos it's much, much cheaper.

Possibly what will happen here IF people complain. Other's might not be as bothered by it or not notice it. By what has been said on here, it's so few models that MAY have this fault, that it's likely to make zero impact on the brand name down the line as it'll be a fraction of a percent that have it. Daniel is the only person on here to have mentioned it, it's hardly cost effective for them, let alone any company, to track down and write to every ES100 owner: even a press release will likely go un-noticed by most so there's not much point.